All About Cork: New Bus Éireann timetable is ‘a step back in time’
Pic; Larry Cummins
The rescheduled Bus Éireann timetable for Cork has been described as a “step back in time” and “not where we need to be going with our public transport.”
Due to a driver shortage Bus Éireann has made timetable changes on a number of busy Cork routes, promising to return service frequency to current levels as soon as possible.
One of these routes is the 220, which since October 20 saw a reduction of 160 buses Monday to Friday and 14 on Saturdays, as the service goes from every 15 minutes to every 20 minutes.
Eoghan Fahy, Sinn Féin county councillor for the Carrigaline area, said this was an extremely disappointing resolution from Bus Éireann and the National Transport Authority (NTA).
Mr Fahy said he and party colleagues met with Bus Éireann on September 20 in relation to what he said was the “unreliable” nature of the 220 service and proposed solutions to the issue.
He said of these would have seen a reduction to the service, instead improving its reliability and punctuality. “The 220 route is 53km long and goes through various pinch points in Carrigaline, Douglas, the city centre and Ballincollig. The times set out in the timetable are just not achievable and needs to be reviewed.,” said Mr Fahy.
“One suggestion made as for there to be a two loop service at peak times, one looping from Crosshaven to the city centre and the other from the city centre to Ovens. This would make the route shorter and avoid several pinch points on each loop,” he added.
Mr Fahy said the current reduction in services could now see funding to Bus Éireann reduced.
“The question is, what does that solve?
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